9.10.08

Last night I went out, which is rare for a Wednesday. I went out because Coco Machete artist Fukkk Offf is in NYC to bang it out, and bang it out he did. The crowd convulsed in the small area set aside for dancing. The lights flashed. A guy dressed in a mascot type bear outfit, large head and all was there (which at first made me think, how Michael Alig circa Limelight and why can't this generation come up with anything original?). But that was just my waking up at 7AM these days to get work done talking. You see, Fukkk Offf has a big hit out there right now in the Nu-Electro scene, it's called 'Rave Is King'. It all made sense, somehow it's caught on, I realized that this generation that's out on a Wednesday bobbing around to heavy electro for the entire night doesn't need to come up with a ton of original ideas because they are one, they are the amalgamation of the first 50 years of pop culture. This group of youth was not just raised with MTV and the Internet, they were raised on the first major death of the romantic period of Western Culture and that I must say is not their fault.

I should explain what I mean by romantic culture. Romantic culture to me does not necessarily have to predate the mega-mediator, The Internet, but it is most certainly stopped around the year 2000 or so. Which is interesting considering the whole Y2K problems many thought we would face. It turns out, for my impression at least, that the computers did not take over but instead the people decided they wanted to be so dependent on them that it might seem as though 'the computers are controlling us.'

Now, to get to my point, this crowd of kids, not the cause of their behavior, have the shortest attention spans of any youth culture in the past 100 years. They interact with each other the same way they most likely surf the web. They are a culture that has become victim to the sound bite, You Tube clip, the blog, twitter, yelp and a million other forms of retaining information and experience in the shortest amount of time in history.

Up until even four years ago, I would still make regular trips to music stores after reading a stack of music and culture magazines. I might enter the shop (or in my case shops) looking for particular releases, a list in hand even. But then I would get that extra touch that not many of that group prancing around the room last night may have ever experienced, I would talk to the kids that actually worked in the shop and find out what they were into.

Now you may want to point out that this generation 'talks amongst themselves' more than any has before, the difference is the amount of time any one person is willing to give a particular subject. I would love to see this generation survive this and for the next to take it down a notch. There are always sociological discussions about how one generation tends to echo the one two before them, I hope this is true. I hope the kids turning 18-21 in the next few years embrace some real focus in their purpose and desires.

I hope it becomes popular to go to coffee houses again and listen to psychedelic records all on vinyl or whatever the result takes place as a result of a new social focus. I may ramble here, but I have decided that the best way to use a sounding board, is to simply sound off. If this is the first time you've ever read my blog or heard of me, I am glad you found this.

I plan to make this a real forum for my thoughts on where the hell all this over saturation is going to take us. I am listening to one of my favorite bands, TV on the Radio. It's midday and this is their debut full length, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. They may be one of the last truly romantic groups around, their music could almost have come from anytime in the last 100 years. The album is on vinyl, the only way I like to listen to this record. Time to put on record 2. We'll talk soon, promise.